SCV off the grid through HOAs

Now that we're past an election in which most Republican and Democratic candidates ran on platforms that promised switching to renewable energy, I feel it is time for those politicians and the communities they serve, as well as the city of Santa Clarita, to begin the work of transformation.

There ought to be a local SCV Oversight and Energy Transformation Committee to tend to these changes and make sure that politicians live up to their word and follow conservation energy-modernization projects that get us off our addiction to oil, curtail the crimes that emanate from that industry and get us off the power grid that brought us financial disasters like the Enron/Ken Lay affair.

SCV is filled with numerous homeowner associations that govern neighborhoods through tax-like dues. They're an ideal source of management for special projects like converting whole neighborhoods to solar or wind power - certainly preferable to policing the color of your home or the type of pottery you have on your front lawn.

Why not assert our votes with our HOAs to get bulk bids at low prices for solar panels that can sit atop our roofs or on the common-area hillsides or other unused lots that face sunlight exposure?

Converting some of this land will also help with conservation of water. Mello-Roos bonds, initially intended for aging communities to vote in bonds for added infrastructure, upgrades and improvements, could be used to fund projects like this.

Local contractors ought be used, thereby stimulating the local economy, and the money that is not paid to the utilities could remain at home once the solar-panel or wind-generator bonds are termed.

I would be happy to organize the first meeting of minds if you contact me at (661) 259-3704 or s@kassel.us.